School Days
by Red-tiki
Summary: Zack starts his last year in high school, how much will change by the end of the year?
1. First Day

The fresh smell of paint, the noisy crowd of students and the first school bell of the year. Some people would say they hated going back to school after holidays, but I seem to look forward to it, just to see my friends. So excited I hopped out of the car before it had even stopped moving, and started running towards the gates.

"Zack!" I heard my name being called from inside the car. I gave out a sigh and turned to face the open window.

"Yes? Angeal?"

"Listen, I don't want you getting kicked out on the first day of school, just try to stay out of trouble, okay?"

Angeal was always so serious, but I couldn't take him seriously.

"Haha, how can I stay out of trouble if I _am _the trouble?" I started walking off, waving bye to Angeal.

"Zack! Get serious!"

"Byyee Angeaaal!" I said without turning around, queuing him to leave.

* * *

><p>I started unpacking my stuff into my clean, empty locker, I knew it wouldn't stay that way for long.<p>

"Good morning Zack, welcome back." I closed my locker to see Aerith standing there, holding her hands behind her back with the cute pink ribbon I gave to her for her birthday last year tied to her plait.

"Oh, hey Aerith! You look even cuter than last year"

"Shush you" She pushed my playfully while giggling.

"How were your holidays?" I asked while now trying to take out the books for my first class from my bag.

"Pretty good, I worked at my mother's flower shop for a bit, there seems to be more people coming in every day." She swayed while she spoke, her eyes watched me try to carry my books.

"That's good to hear, I didn't do too much, just relaxed, mostly at the beach, we've got a holiday house down there."

Some books started to slip from the pile in my hands, Aerith caught them and stacked them neatly.

"hehe silly…"

She placed them on top of the pile I was holding, this time it stayed still.

"There you go!" She clapped her hands together and gave a big smile.

"Thanks!" I said while balancing the books.

"Well…I have to get to my first class, I'm all the way on the other side." She gestured, pointing out the window towards the year 11 building.

"Awww, then I won't get to see you that much." I made a sad face, pushing my bottom lip out.

"Stop pouting and get to your class to 12!" With that she walked away with all smiles, we weren't dating but she is adorable that I just want to keep her.

* * *

><p>There were a lot of new students at school, as expected our school was becoming more popular. Students not just in my year level, but there were these triplets in my classes that seemed to irritate me just being there. They seemed like such bullies, although one seemed a bit quiet and ominous, the other was a cry baby but he acted tough, and the last one seemed to have little sanity.<p>

My whole day was letting me down, I couldn't even make until recess. I saw those triplets bullying this year 10, blond haired boy. The insane one had pinned the little guy to the tree while gripping onto his neck but not choking.

"Does this hurt?" The ominous one held his arm and kept scraping it with a sharp stick off the ground. I could see the marks from where I was peeking, I could see a bit of blood trickle down.

The boy scrunched his face at the pain and tried to wriggle out a bit.

"Why don't you go cry to your mummy!" The tough one said while laughing.

"Oi, what's wrong with you guys?" I moved closer to the three, they all turned the heads towards me, frozen in action.

"Get lost!" The insane one said, tilting his head up me as a gesture while beginning to choke the little guy, I could see him struggling to breath.

"Yeah, let us play!" The tough one ran towards me. I stayed still until he was close enough to me, I stepped to the side but leaving my foot there, easily tripping him over.

"Woah!" He tried to stop, realising it was too late with a thud on the ground.

The quiet one began running towards me too, this one was faster so I ran away too, through the trees. As soon as he was close enough, I pulled a branch back with me and released it, whipping him in the face.

"Ahhh!" He closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands.

The last one lifted the little boy off the ground, the little boy lifted his hands to his neck, trying to pull the hand away.

"Don't come closer, otherwise I'll kill him." Said the insane one with a smirk on his face.

I stood still, trying to think of what I could do, I had to do something quick otherwise this guy would be dead soon. Since the insane one was grinning at me, he hadn't realise the little boy had threw a fist at his face. With that he instantly let go of the boy, letting him fall to the ground again as he fell too.

He gasped for breath while holding his neck, turning into a cough.

I ran towards him, reaching my hand out to comfort him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He whacked my hand away and looked slightly up at me.

"I can…fend for…myself..." He lifted himself off the ground and stumbled away coughing.

I stood there, speechless by this kid. Saying he can fend for himself but allowing himself to get beat up. Do I just leave him to walk off or should I go help him even though he refused my help. By the time I snapped back to reality the blond guy was long gone, leaving me with the triplets agonizing in pain on the ground.

"Well, well…what do we have here, a troublemaker?"

I turned around to face Genesis, one of the strictest English teachers at school, crossing his arms while leaning against one of the trees. I had him once in year 9, he didn't seem to like my essays or speeches that much, let's just say we had different views…

"Sephiroth won't be pleased to hear about this…"


	2. Tough Day

I was starting my year at a new school, my parents had recently divorced so I moved with my dad. It was only 30 minutes from my old school, but I heard this one had a really good food tech facility. I didn't like starting at a new school though, I wasn't good at making new friends. The only person I knew at this school was Aerith, but I didn't think I would see her around since she's in a higher grade. My mum was friends with her mum so we kinda grew up together, she's like the sister I've always wanted, and I don't want anything to change.

It was already recess, I was spending the warm sunny day by myself, near a bunch of trees. Resting on the tree while looking at the clear blue sky, I loved days like this. I loved feeling the rays of sunlight gently touching my face, and the calm breeze that makes the leaves on the trees sing quietly. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound…

"ah!" I open my eyes to the feeling of a small rock thrown at my head, I looked around and no one was there. I closed my eyes again, only to be hit with another rock, this one a little bit bigger.

"What the hell…?" I mumbled to myself.

"Aww the poor boy looks so confused!" I turned to face where the voice came from, seeing 3 silver haired guys, and the middle one throwing a rock up in his hand and catching it.

"I'm trying to relax here, so if you don't mind-"

"Ooh, bossy! Who says you claim this area, huh?" The more toned and tougher on said.

They were starting to get on my nerves.

"I didn't say it was my area, I just mean-"

"Shut up! You're annoying!" The middle one said again, the one on the left didn't seem to say much, he snickered quite a bit though.

"Oh yeah…_I'm_ the annoying one..." I said in an obviously sarcastic tone.

"You better watch it…" The long haired one finally said as the middle one stomped up to me, I was still lying on the ground, these guys weren't worth a fight.

The middle one threw the rocks on the ground and grabbed my collar. "Listen here, you spikey haired fr-"

"Freaks…" I said, finishing his sentence.

"Exactly."

"No, I meant you guys." I said, challenging him, looking him straight in the eyes.

He twitched, he lifted me up and slammed me against the tree.

"Shut up, you're annoying me." He said, while the other two came closer towards me as well.

After that it kinda went blurry, but some cocky guy decided to get involved, acting like he was a hero. After I fell to the ground while trying to find my breath, he ran up to me, reaching out to comfort me, but I didn't need guys like him helping me. I could handle everything by myself, that's how it used to be, and that's how it will continue to be.

Right now I was just walking around, I didn't really know where I was going in the school, somewhere in the garden I guess. Still looking at the ground, walking with my hand cupped to my neck, my breathing rate was back at its normal speed now. I looked up and saw some sort of storage building, a small one, and a red haired guy leaning on the side of it while smoking. He wasn't in a school uniform, but in a blue jumpsuit, I think he was a janitor. He had some weird red tattoo's on his face, he heard me walking towards the building and turned towards me.

"Ey, what're you doin' all the way out 'ere?" He said while walking towards me.

"er..I,uh…" I moved my hand from my throat down to hold the cut on my arm, the blood trickled from my arm. The red head stood there, taking a puff of his smoke while staring at me, it made me feel a bit uneasy.

"You feelin' alright?" The smoke escaped from his mouth, I could smell it. After a few seconds he finally realised the blood dripping from my arm. He came up to me, placing a hand on my back, slightly pushing me towards the small building.

"Hey, we gotta take care of that before it gets worse!"

"uhh...no I'm alri-"

"C'mon, it'll only take a few seconds, just lemme bandage it for you, the names Reno by the way. You must be new here, I've never seen you….then again I don't really see a lot of the students…"

After sitting down I watched him dab a wet cloth over my arm, soaking it red.

"…so?" Since I was looking down Reno bent over and looked up at my face, snapping me out of the concentration of looking at my arm.

"huh?" I questioned him, Reno let out a chuckle while putting the cloth down and picking up an antiseptic spray.

"You got a name?"

"yeah…Cloud..."

"So Cloud...shouldn't you be in class right now?" Reno looked up at me, smirking. He seemed really laid back, I don't think he really cared if I was in class or not.

"W-what? When did the bell go? I need to go!" I tried lifting myself up from the seat but Reno pushed me back down.

"ah!" He sprayed my arm, I flinched because it stung like hell.

"Relax~ it's not like you're gonna miss out on anything important on the first day. I wanted to ask you a few questions, are you new here?"

"Yeah…"

"You know anyone?" He began wrapping the bandage around my arm.

"Just one..."

"Who?"

"A girl named Aerith"

"Aerith? You know her? I hear a lot about her!"

My protective brotherly instincts got to my mouth before my brain registered anything. I stood up quickly, not sure why…I guess my legs were working on their own.

"Who said something about her! What did they say!"

"Woah...calm down! Nothing bad, it's just this year 12 friend of mine, talks about her all the time, saying she's really cute…they're really close"

I started getting a bit…angry? I didn't want just any guy getting close to my Aerith, I hope he was one of those reasonable guys and not some cocky jerk who does whatever he wants.

"What's…his name?"

"Zack."


End file.
